Combined bill and record book



(No Model.) 2 -'Shee ts..-Sheet IV R. CRAIG. COMBINED BILL AND RECORD BOOK.

No; 578,973. Patented Mar. 16, 1897.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheat 2.

R. G: CRAIG. GOMBINED BILL AND REGORD BOOK.

No. 578,973. Patented Mar. 16, 1897.

Nrrn *rnrns ATENT rricn.

COMBINED BILL AND RECORD BOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 578,973, dated March 16, 1897. Application filed October 17, 1896. Serial No- 609,172. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, ROBERT G. CRAIG, of the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in a Combined Bill and Record Book, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference'being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to a combined bill and record book and it consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter shown, described, and claimed.

Figure 1 is a View in perspective of my improved combined bill and record book in position open for use and having two sheets of the bills removed to show a record-page. Fig.

i 2 is a plan View illustrating the relative positions of the bills composing two adjacent sheets. Fig. 3 is a bottom end view of the part shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4is avieW in perspective of the book shown in Fig. 1, with two adjacent sheets of the bill-heads elevated to show the method of making the record and the relative positions of the bill-heads of one sheet with the bill-heads of the adjacent sheet. Fig. 5 is a plan view of an open book, the side edges of the top leaves being drawn inwardly to clearly show the construction of the device. Fig. 6 is a bottom end view of the parts shown in Fig. 5. Figs. 7 and 8 are diagrammaticviews of open books.

In the construction of my improved combined bill and record book I employ the record-leaves 10, each having the vertical rule 11 upon its front side and the vertical rule 12 upon its rear side. Between the recordsheets are placed the sheets 13, 14, 15, and. 16 of bill-heads. The printing upon the sheets 13 and 14 is upon the rear sides of said sheets, while the printing upon the sheets 15 and 16 is upon the front sides of said sheets. The bills which are Written upon the sheets 13 and 14 are copied upon the rear side of the record-sheet 10 by means of the carbon-sheet 17. The bills written upon the sheets 15 and 16 are copied upon the front side of the record-sheet 10 by means of the carbon-sheet 18. Each one of the sheets 13, 14, 15, and 16 has the vertical line of perforations 19, and each of said sheets consists of a series of the billheads 20 and a strip of waste paper 21, and said bill-heads are separated from each other and from the strip of waste by the horizontal lines of perforations 22. The bill-heads are so arranged upon the sheets that the strip of waste 21 comes at the bottom of one sheet and at the top of the next succeeding sheet.

Each of the bill-heads consists of the upper portion 23, which contains the advertising matter, the date, and the name of the customer, and of the lower portion 24, which is a blank to be filled in with the statement of ac count.

The accounts written upon the two sheets 15 and 16 of the bill-heads are all copied upon the front page of the record-sheet 10, the first account written upon the sheet 15 occupying the space upon the record corresponding to the space occupied by the heading of the first account upon the sheet 16, and so on throughout the series. In this way I make the record upon the recordsheet 10 compact and save one-half of the record-sheets; that is, I only use one-half as many record-sheets in the book as would be required if the bill-heads were arranged in line throughout the book.

The accounts written upon the sheets 13 and 14 are all copied upon the rear side of the record-sheet 10, the account written upon the first bill-head upon the sheet 14 being copied in the space corresponding to the heading of the first bill-head upon the sheet 13, and so on throughout the series.

After the accounts have been written upon the bill-heads the bill-heads are torn out of the book upon the perforated lines, and after all the bill-heads in the book have been used the record-sheets 10 remain and contain a complete record of the accounts for which bills have been rendered.

By the construction heretofore described all the space upon both sides of the recordsheets 10 may be used except the space at the top of the pages and corresponding to the first heading upon the sheets 14 and 15. The

pieces 21 of the bill-head sheets, which have i been indicated as waste, may be left in the book and be used for memoranda.

All the space upon the bill-head sheets and all the space upon the record-sheets may be used by constructing the book as shown. in Fig. 8. In the place of the waste strip 21 and the first bill-head upon the sheet 13 may be printed a bill-head 25, and in place of the Waste strip 21 and the last bill-head 20 upon the sheet 15 may be printed a similar billhead. When the book is constructed in this way, the first bill-head upon the sheet 14 is torn from the book before the account is written and is placed in position so that the ac count written upon said bill-head will be copied upon the rear side of the record-sheet 10 and in position at the upper edge of said sheet corresponding to the position occupied by the heading of the bill-head 25. Then when the account is written upon the billhead said account will be copied upon the rear side of the record-sheet 10 in the space immediately below the space occupied by the account on the first bill-head of the sheet 14. Before Writing the account upon the last billhead of the sheet 16 it is torn from the book and placed in position, so that the account will be copied upon the upper edge of the front side of the record-sheet 10 and in the space corresponding to the space occupied by the first heading upon the sheet 15. Then when the bill-head 25 is used the account written thereon will occupy the bottom space upon the front side of the record-sheet 10, thus completely filling said record-sheet.

Any desired memorandum-blanks may be used in place of the bill-heads, and the blanks may be arranged in such a way that three or more sheets maybe used foreach recordpage. WVhen the heading and blank of each memorandum are substantially of the same size, but two sheets can be used for each page of the record, but if the heading is twice as large as the blank then three sheets may be used for each page of the record, and if the heading is four times as large as the blank four sheets may be used for each page of the record, and instead of bill-heads prescriptions, receipts, or any other desired form of blank may be used. It is only essential that the blanks of the successive sheets of each series be mismatched. In other Words, the blanks of one sheet must not be upon the same part of the sheet as the blanks of the companion sheet or sheets.

I claim 1. A combined bill and record book, c011- sisting of record-sheets and sheets of detachable blanks, there being two sheets of blanks for each record-page, the blanks of one sheet being upon a different part of the sheet than the blanks of the companion sheet, substantially as specified.

2. A combined bill and record book, c011- sisting of record-pages and two or more sheets of detachable blanks for each record-page, the blanks of one sheet being upon a different part of the sheet than the blanks of the companion sheet, substantially as specified.

3. A combined bill and record book, 0011- sistin g of record-sheets and two or more sheets of detachable blanks for each page of said record-sheets, the blanks of one sheet being upon a different part of the sheet than the blanks of the companion sheet, substantially as specified.

4. A combined bill and record book, consisting of record-sheets and two or more sheets of detachable blanks for each page of said record-sheets, the backs of said blanks being toward the corresponding pages of said record-sheets and the blanks of one sheet being upon a different part of the sheet than the blanks of the companion sheet, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT G. CRAIG.

-Witnesses:

EDWARD E. LONGAN, MAUD GRIFFIN. 

